COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AP) - A wildfire has forced the evacuation of more than 900 prisoners at a state prison outside Colorado Springs.

Department of Corrections spokesman Adrienne Jacobson said on Wednesday that the prisoners from the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility were taken to other prisons around the Front Range overnight.

Ms Jacobson said the prisoners were evacuated by bus, including 24 from an infirmary who were taken to a Denver facility to protect them from smoke.

The evacuation was a precaution because of the danger from one of four wildfires raging south of Denver, Ms Jacobson said, adding that the fire has not reached the prison.